


The Wills of Fire and Blood

by CuriousClockwork



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Naruto
Genre: Action, Adventure, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Crossover, Family, Family Secrets, Fire and Blood, Gen, I will add tags as I go, Light family drama, Spell Causes Plot
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-15
Updated: 2018-10-31
Packaged: 2019-08-02 09:25:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 21,428
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16302524
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CuriousClockwork/pseuds/CuriousClockwork
Summary: AU Crossover. Finding new relatives that were better than the Dursley’s was something that Harry Potter had always dreamt about. When he learns that his wish has become reality, he is shocked to get hit by a spell that sends him right to Sasuke Uchiha. Their differing ideals and personalities might clash yet if they wish to restore their family name, they will have to find plenty of reasons to get along with one another.





	1. Old Blood, New Blood

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a plot that I have come across a few times but most of them are just not quite what I have been looking for. So, I wrote what I wanted to real. Don't get me wrong, there are some good stories out there that I love for one reason of another. There is nothing wrong with these it's just that I wanted to give this a shot and see if anyone else out there was looking for this kind of story.
> 
> A major thing I want to acknowledge is the time setting from each side of the crossover. So, spoilers if you have not completed either narrative.
> 
> For "Naruto", it is basically post manga series. This story has this half of the crossover taking place after chapter 699 and even a little later than that but not all the way to chapter 700 epilogue.
> 
> For "Harry Potter", it is the summer between Order of the Phoenix and Half Blood Prince. This first chapter is an exception due to setup.
> 
> Now, onwards!

**Posted October 14, 2018 … Revised January 28, 2019**

The dusty Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom was quiet except for the sound of occasional pieces of parchment shuffling around. A young Harry Potter, just coming into his teenage years, was absorbed in a small personal journal that had been in the possession of his late father, James Potter. It had been a small gift to Harry from his Defense professor, Remus Lupin.

After a few weeks of practicing the Patronus charm in the privacy of the classroom walls, professor and student had gotten close after Remus had let slip that he and two other people had once been close friends with James during their own school years at Hogwarts.

Harry had been pleased to learn anything and everything about one of his parents. So, the young preteen had clung onto every word Remus said during each visit.

With stories being an added part of their time together, Harry had soon found himself spending quite a bit of his free time with the Professor in hopes of learning as much as he could about both the charm and his relatively unknown father.

Wanting a bit of time to himself after weeks of teaching during both his work hours and personal time, but not wanting to completely leave Harry without anymore tales, Remus had finally handed over the journal after having spoken about it a few times already. The older man told Harry that James had given it to him after Harry had been born and that if something were to happen to him, Remus was to give it to Harry when he thought he was ready.

It turned out that James had personally charmed the leather-bound book so that only someone with his blood flowing through their veins could open it.

And after leaving it in the hands of arguably the most trustworthy marauder – and a smart marauder at that – James had handed it over to Remus for safe keeping.

Harry was not sure why now seemed like an opportune moment to be given such a precious gift, but looking at his Defense Professor, Harry noticed how he seemed to look wearier and more exhausted as the days passed. Remus seemed to act more anxious as the evenings came and went.

Though Harry was not sure why he appeared in such a state, there was a small part in the back of Harry's mind that said he was being handed the gift because Lupin would not get another chance in the foreseeable future. Feeling a bit upset at where his thoughts had been heading, Harry shook his head to brush them away to instead focus on what he had just been given.

When Remus finally handed over the small, almost inconspicuous looking book, Harry had given him such a bright smile that it was almost blinding. It could have been a treasure chest full of the world's best riches, Harry appeared so happy.

"Thank you!" Harry had said before he had raced over to the nearest desk and sat down, journal already opened to the first page.

With a smile on his face, Remus had then left Harry to himself as he went to collect his cloak, telling the young lad that he wanted to spend the afternoon by himself at Hogsmeade.

After Remus left the room, the broad grin slowly sank into a more content smile as he was slowly consumed into the thoughts and words of his father.

The first entry had been when James was eight. For a while, the words were nothing more than childish thoughts and desires such as wanting a new broom or his feelings about the children he was forced to go in play dates with. A few of the surnames were a bit familiar with Harry spotting a Frank Longbottom being mentioned a few times. That was certainly something interesting. Harry decided that he would try to remember to talk to Neville about that.

After a while however, the entries gradually became sparse and were dated farther apart as though James eventually lost interest in keeping up with writing down his thoughts.

The most dramatic jump was from James' last day of his second year at Hogwarts to after graduation.

From there, the entries became less like journal entries and more like notes on his momentary feelings about the ongoing war.

Harry noticed that James wrote a lot about a big group of friends that he sometimes was with. He noticed that names and locations were never written down which seemed a bit odd to him. Harry also noticed that James apparently liked birds since he tended to include such terms in the entries about his group of friends.

Those were the fun ones to read since he always wrote about an old man with a pet chicken. He wasn't sure if it was true or if James was just making up fun stories about his friends to fill in the sad days of war with something else.

Either way, those entries too slowly dwindled down until finally, there was only two pages left in the book that had been filled.

Curiously, Harry noticed that they were dated only a few days before he was born.

The first of the two entries held notes about how James was so happy to be married to his beloved Lily and his thoughts about having kids in a time of war. Harry was surprised to learn that he was named after his paternal great-grandfather and that he would have had younger siblings, if what James wrote was true about wanting to have at least three children.

He was saddened to read that his father was concerned about his mother being pregnant with him seeing as they were currently fighting in a war that seemed never-ending. The entry ended with a slight bitter sweetness to it as James signed off with  _Here's hoping to fatherhood._

It was the second of the two entries that stood out to Harry the most, however.

Dated the same as the first entry, Harry noticed how different the handwriting was and how, for the most part, the words were scribbled down as though James had been in a hurry to write it all before he forgot anything. Harry was also surprised to see that it was not written like any of the journal entries before now but was instead written directly to him.

.

* * *

.

 _27_ _th_ _July 1980_

_Dear Harry,_

_If Remus upheld his end of the promise, you were given this when he felt it was right. Or maybe I'm wrong and you came across this through some other means. Either way, the only way you would have gotten ahold of this was because your mother and I have died._

_With us gone, there will most likely be a battle for your custody with quite a few players. Even with our will listing several people, you just don't know if they will live until they are one hundred years old or die tomorrow in another battle. This is war time after all. Thus, I thought it best to write this down someplace that can appear nonthreatening and give it to someone for safekeeping._

_I know that if your reading this, you have obviously been placed somewhere to grow up, so this cannot be considered a viable option for you to be placed – unless perhaps you are not yet 17 years old – but this is something that is important enough for you to know even after you've reached adulthood._

_Our blood still lives._

_Yes Harry, you can read that line as much as you want, and they will never change. And those words are the truth._

_You see Harry, I was adopted. Fleamont and Euphemia Potter will always be my parents and I loved them dearly, but I had different, biological parents that I never knew existed until just recently. Apparently, my parents struggled to tell me throughout the years until finally they thought it best to reveal this to me as I was going to soon have a child of my own. I guess they finally chose to say something in case you are born with specific features that could not be passed off something from Lily or traditional Potter traits._

_And so now, I pass this knowledge onto you. I must repeat that I never knew this before now and I still know nothing except a surname – Uchiha. Quite the odd name but I suppose it would be odd seeing as my parents found me on the other side of the world when they were traveling. Even after all these years, my parents were still wary to tell me everything. All I know for sure is that I was given up by the Uchiha's for some reason and my parents gladly took me in seeing as they were an older couple and had been having trouble conceiving._

_This is all I know Harry. By the time you read this, I can only hope that more information has come to light. I know this will all be quite the shock, but I needed to write this down before I could forget anything._

_And now comes an important question you must ask yourself, Harry. Do you go down this route and find long lost family or do you stay where you are, happy with where you were placed? Or perhaps you are already a young man with your own family and have no want to seek this mystery out. Either way, it is up to you determine if finding these Uchiha would be worth finding more family._

_Again, I cannot even begin to imagine where you are or how you currently living. There are so many paths ahead of me right now and I can only hope that I am by your side as you are currently reading this. Or perhaps you will never have to read this._

_If that is not the case however, you must make this decision on your own._

_I realize as I am writing this that if for some reason you believe this information to be false, I have no proof with just these words. And so, after writing this, I will go to Gringotts Bank and comprise a new family tree using my blood. When I was adopted, apparently a contract was signed with Gringotts saying that all Potter Trees must be charmed with Goblin magic to show only my blood adoption and no originating ties. But if I make a new tree with fresh blood, I can make it reveal its secrets once you've added your own blood to the tree. The best bet will be for you to use a few drops while casting the words "Originum sanguis revelare." If you get lost, just ask for help from the Goblins; they know what they're doing._

_Well, there's not much more to say than that. I know this will be a lot to take in, especially if horrible and unpredictable things have happened to you. Just please know that even after all the wills were written and scenarios were thought up, your mother and I would have wanted nothing more than to be there with you and see you grow up to be such an amazing wizard._

_I love you son and you can bet Lily loves you more,_

_James Potter_

.

* * *

.

Harry read the entry quite a few times. The first read through was such a large shock that Harry thought for sure a large boulder had dropped onto his shoulders. They suddenly felt so heavy with all the new knowledge that Harry simply wanted to slump down and rest his head on top of the wooden desk to process everything.

The way James had signed off the letter had been what finally brought tears to Harry's eyes that when he began rereading the entry for the second time, they trailed down his face and fell onto the parchment and desk.

A strange mix of happiness and sadness swirled within his body as he sat there and took in the words from his father. His blood. The man that Harry had heard amazing stories about from Remus and a few other professors. It was proof that he had truly been alive at one point in time and was not just a story told by others.

He had thoughts of his own and had worried about things all people do. And that included his concerns for Harry. His one and only son that he dearly loved.

When the contents of the letter finally came crashing into the forefront of his mind, Harry felt the anger, sadness, and finally elation at the realization that he had more family out there somewhere in the expansive world.

Yes, outright believing what James had to say might have been difficult for some but for Harry, he just felt that what his father wrote was true. It seemed like too much work for someone to make up and while it was possible Remus could have made up the entire thing, Harry felt that did fit with how the older man portrayed himself.

And his family was alive!

Or at least, some other family that was not Aunt Petunia or Dudley was out there.

There were people that were as real as the Dursley's and hopefully a lot nicer. The more he thought about these mysterious relatives, the more curious Harry felt. The more excited he became. He wanted to meet them and live with them.

He wanted to grow up with family that would love him like Mr. and Mrs. Weasley loved their own children. Harry wanted to feel and experience and finally understand what it meant to have a family.

It was all of Harry's wildest dreams and it was slowly coming true.

Ever since he could remember, Harry had always wished that some distant relative would sweep him off his feet and take him away from his horrible aunt and uncle. Sure, it was now up to him to find them instead of the other way around, but all the same, this meant that if Harry could find his long-lost family, maybe they would take him in.

The thought made Harry so happy and excited that he stood up, as though he could run away from Hogwarts right at that moment to go and find his new relatives.

He paused however, when he realized he now only knew as much as his father had – a single name,  _Uchiha._

Now more determined than he had ever been with anything else in his thirteen years of life, Harry finally stood up to his full, albeit smaller than average height, safely packed James' journal in his shoulder bag, and headed for the classroom door. He was startled back when it opened before he could reach for the handle and Hermione filled the archway with Ron hovering at her shoulder.

"There you are Harry. We were looking for you for a while now," Hermione said with an exasperated smile on her face.

"Sorry guys, I was just talking with Remus for a little bit." Harry said, not lying, but not wanting to tell them the whole truth. He wanted to keep the journal a secret for now at least. It was a bit selfish to keep all the information for himself, but there was no real need or any danger in saying otherwise.

Hermione stared at him with a raised eyebrow as she tilted her head to look behind Harry into the empty classroom. She then moved back to stare at Harry with an even higher raised brow, "And where is Professor Lupin then?"

"Oh! He, uh, just left. Said he wanted to go to Hogsmeade for a while. I was just heading out when you found me."

The smart Gryffindor said nothing to call out his fib, and instead shifted focus, "Well anyways, Ron and I were looking for you so that we could go the library like we said we would yesterday. Don't tell me that you forgot that we promised Hagrid that we would try to find books to help Buckbeak's defense."

Harry opened his mouth to protest. He would much rather spend time trying to find leads about these Uchiha or even anything about the wanted man, Sirius Black, but he saw the look that Hermione gave him as he begun to object.

He deflated in an instant and nodded in agreement. She was right. They did want to help Hagrid and Buckbeak out, so as much as Harry would rather be spending his winter break finding information on the other two subjects, he knew that he should at least help Hagrid out first. It was the right thing to do.

.

* * *

.

The rest of Harry's third year passed soon after that.

He followed Hermione and Ron to the library as promised and afterwards, things naturally kept falling into their path until Harry completely forgot about his father's journal.

The quidditch match with the dementors, the time turner fiasco, and especially Sirius Black. Things that were happening in the moment took priority and with Harry focused on all the life-threatening problems like the guards from a magical prison or a man thought to be a mad killer turned framed Godfather, were all that Harry could think about.

Eventually, the school year ended and as Harry was on the train headed back to Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon, he remembered the small leather book that was currently resting in his trunk. With the option of living with Sirius gone like the wind, he could turn back to his other option that his father spoke about. He still had the chance to find family that would be better than the Dursley's.

As soon as he would get to the house and be alone in his small bedroom, Harry planned to reread the entry that James had written to him to refresh himself. Then perhaps he could spend his summer in the muggle world doing something worthwhile.

Sitting up straighter in his seat, Harry let a gleeful smile rest on his face. His father had simply said that he knew about a last name. Ukima or something like that. It was an odd name so while it could be a magical name, there was the chance that it was not.

Maybe his grandparents had been somewhere in the muggle world on the other side of the globe when they found a child with magical potential living in a place with no tools to help him. The muggle world was certainly larger than its magical counterpart after all, so it would not be such a big stretch of the imagination to assume that the odd name was simply from a different culture.

Harry reasoned that there would have to be something about the surname on a computer if it was indeed from the muggle world.

With such thoughts swirling in his mind, the train ride seemed even longer than it normally was.

Hermione tried to ask what had made him so happy as he sat in the train cart smiling off into space, but all Harry told her was that he wanted to do something over the summer.

She offered to help once he said he planned to do research in the muggle world, but Harry told her that he wanted to try on his own first. He promised her that he would tell both her and Ron about everything once the next school year began, or better yet, when they would meet up for the Quidditch World Cup.

Simply rolling her eyes with a fond smile of her own gracing her lips, she gave a nod before she turned back to the book in her lap.

Once more however, it was not to be and Harry's plans to find his new extended family were put on hold.

When Harry got home, he noticed that the list of chores seemed to be longer than usual. To appease the Dursley's, Harry thought it would be best to prioritize the list and hurry through them. Trying to find a silver lining as he completed each task throughout the following days, Harry made himself read the entire journal nightly before he went to sleep.

After the first week back came and went, Harry was confident that he could recite the entire book word for word.

The chores still took up his time and to distract himself, he even started speaking the entries aloud when he was out in the back garden. He would get the occasional odd look from the neighbors when they would peek out from their windows and he made sure to keep quiet anytime he heard his relatives moving about in the kitchen when the windows were open. Even with these restrictions and the caution he was taking, Harry was happy to do anything to distract himself from all the tasks he had to do throughout the days.

Harry finally got his chance to escape from his aunt one day when Uncle Vernon took Dudley to lunch and then the cinema as a day of father-son bonding.

With only the two of them in the house, it was not too long before Petunia decided to leave to go shopping in the city. Wanting to spend as little time around her nephew as possible, she happily left with the threat of expecting the house to look the same when she got back.

With a quiet nod, Harry watched her take the second car and as soon as she left the street, Harry wasted no time leaving the house as well and walking to the local library.

.

* * *

.

He was disappointed to learn that the computer held practically no information on the word Uchiha.

There had only been one result that came up after he hit the enter key and excited to have even anything show up, Harry had checked out the result only for it to lead to an odd website about conspiracies.

It was a thread of conversation between a handful of people talking about how there was supposedly an entire continent hidden behind some type of force field that no technology could get past. Even within such a strange thread from a strange search result, the word  _Uchiha_  came up only once on the entire page.

As a reference to the hidden landmass and "facts" about how these people just knew this missing continent had to be real, someone said that there was proof from real accounts of people leaving the place and telling tales about living there. One of these people was apparently an Uchiha.

Harry had been excited to read about this so called Uchiha saying anything about where they came from, but it did not go into detail.

It was just a listing of names of people that had apparently came from there and it simply included an Aina Uchiha, whoever that was.

At first, he had assumed the entire thing might have been related to magic. There was an invisible continent being talked about after all and Harry knew a bit about being invisible thanks to his father's cloak. But the longer he thought about it, Harry was not so sure.

Was it even possible for magic to hide an entire Continent? He knew that Hogwarts apparently had some type of magic that stopped muggles from finding the castle, but the thought that an entire landmass could be hidden seemed like too much.

But who was Harry to argue – he had only been in the wizarding world for three years now. He was sure that there were still some things in the magical world that he did not understand.

Taking the time to read through the entire thread, Harry learned that the missing continent, while hard to accurately locate due to obviously being hidden, was somewhere in the Pacific Ocean.

Some smart people (that Harry could not quiet follow along with) talked about math equations and physics, showing various graphs and pictures to argue how there were weird spikes and fluctuations in science-related things that were coming from apparently nowhere in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

While most likely in the middle of the large body of water away from other landmasses, the people in the thread said that when people came forward claiming to be from this long-lost place, they seemed to have more Asian influence than any other continent in both language and physical features.

This little bit of information seemed to make the accounts even more real to Harry since this matched up to the journal entry. James had said that his parents found him on the other side of the world, and the middle of the Pacific was as far as one could get from Great Britain.

The consensus of the people that posted said that this hidden continent seemed most likely to be along the equator line and below the Hawaiian Islands.

There were a bunch of arguments about the accuracy of this theory and Harry thought all the arguing and math equations were too confusing to follow for someone like him who only had muggle education until he turned eleven.

He was not sure if he could believe them, but it would still be a good idea, Harry supposed, to note it down just in case.

When Harry thought that he had gone through the entire web page as much as he could, he went back to the search bar and tried to put in the other surnames that had been mentioned alongside Uchiha. He tried a few only for the search bar to either produce nothing or a whole bunch of results.

At first, Harry seemed excited to have found something, but he soon found out that the surnames that came back with a lot of results were common words from Asian cultures and the results were from the originating countries like Japan or China. There were no ties or mentions of these words also being used in some mysterious missing continent.

If a name came back with no results, the only thing that appeared was the original thread that Harry had taken the names from. Slowly giving up hope, Harry typed in the final surname that he had taken down and hitting the enter key once more, Harry was surprised to see two results appear.

The first was obviously the original thread page but the second one was completely new.

When Harry clicked on the link, it took him to a type of public personal journal. The key word that lead Harry to the page stood out as highlighted text,  _Nara_ , and littered the entire computer screen as the name was referenced quite a bit. Shocked, Harry scrolled back to the top of the page to start from the beginning and as he moved further into the website and looked at different entries to the personal journal, the young teen began to believe that there really was a hidden continent somewhere in the Pacific Ocean.

The site was created by some woman named Nicole Martin from Canada that decided to write down the stories that her great-grandfather had told her about.

For the past six years, Nicole had decided to upload his tales because she found them fun and wanted to share what he had told her. From the way everything was written, Harry could tell that Nicole did not believe anything that she had written down to be real and instead thought they were tales from a great story teller.

Instead, she spoke about how her great-grandfather, Fumio Nara, had told her tales of a mysterious land that had amazing, mystical powers. The stories were told from his perspective, but it was obvious that Nicole did not believe that a ninety-three-year-old Fumio was the person that had experienced everything he talked about.

Harry knew better though.

He had experienced the unexpected when he was invited to Hogwarts and when he read his father's journal. The young raven was now completely open to the idea of a hidden landmass.

The most important thing that stood out to Harry was how in the last few entries, Nicole began writing about how something had apparently happened a long time ago and Fumio had somehow been sent out of his world and landed outside of a barrier. He had been found by some passing fishing boat whose sailors had thought he had been a survivor of a wrecked ship.

Fumio had also spoken about fighting and being in a war. As the last entry ended, Harry read that Nicole and the remaining living family members thought that Fumio had most likely fought in a real war and either had developed these stories to cope with what he experienced or that in his old age, his memories were fading and were being replaced with grand fairytales.

In the end, Harry finally got to the last post on the website which was dated three years ago. Fumio had apparently lived to be ninety-nine and had finally passed away. With no more tales to share, Nicole was done adding journal entries.

She said that Fumio's last words had been him wishing he could have spent more time trying to find a way to get back "in" so that he could go home once more to tell his younger brother that he had lived through the "transportation" and had made a family of his own.

Harry was sad to read that the old man was gone but was determined to keep going.

He tried one last time to search for key words that might bring him more information. He realized that he had been exceptionally lucky to even stumble across these two strange internet results, but Harry was greedy for more.

Yet, no matter how much he tried to be creative with his words and phrases, nothing else came up.

With that, there was nothing left to search for and even if there was something that Harry wanted to look up, he realized that it was getting late as he peered at the clock in the corner of the screen.

Worried that he might not be the first one home if he stayed any longer, the young teen decided that it would be best if started to head back to the house before he could be found out and be punished with even more chores.

.

* * *

.

With some type of lead finally made, Harry was happy throughout the next week of chores. They were never-ending since every time he told his Aunt and Uncle that he was done, a new list was shoved into his face.

It was frustrating, but at least it gave Harry a bit of time to go over everything that he had learned and mentally sort through it.

Harry hoped to find another opportune moment to leave the house a second time to go looking for more answers.

He could admit to himself that he would not know where to start, but at least trying to look somewhere with a lot of information would be something. Harry was even tempted to ask Hermione for help seeing as she had more knowledge about technology and the muggle world in general, but he stopped himself every time. It might have been a pride thing, but Harry felt like he should be doing this on his own – it was  _his_  family after all.

With nothing else taking up his thoughts, all Harry could ever think about were his mysterious relatives that lived on the other side of the world.  _What are they like_ , Harry would wonder. Would they look like him?

People did always say that Harry looked like his father. But everyone always said it was the famous Potter blood. So perhaps his looks were because of the blood adoption.  _Maybe I should go to Gringotts after all_ , Harry reluctantly thought to himself.

The green-eyed teenager continued to let his thoughts surround the mysterious Uchiha until one night he had a nightmare about Voldemort, Wormtail, and a third man that he did not know living in some old, creepy house.

Priorities took place again, and Harry was left thinking about his fleeting dream for the rest of the early morning until he went down for breakfast. There, he was met with an angry Uncle Vernon and that was when he was handed the hilarious envelope that was covered in nothing but stamps.

It was from Molly Weasley inventing Harry to the Quidditch world cup. He eagerly accepted the offer, wanting nothing more than to escape the Dursley's early.

Once more, a whirlwind of events happened to young Harry.

The Quidditch game had been amazing, but the after party was less so. Death Eaters attacked and afterwards, too much things began pilling up on Harry's plate.

His fourth year soon began after that and with the excitement, both good and bad, concerning the Triwizard Tournament, Harry Potter had no time to go looking for a mysterious continent on the other side of the world that may or may not have held his missing family.

**End Chapter One**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't want to seem rude, but there is something I need to say right off the bat. This first chapter is to test the waters and see if there are people out there that want to read something like this and if this is even something worth continuing to write. I am a bit passionate about this project, so I might post the second chapter as well to get the ball rolling, but I don't know about the future of this story.
> 
> There are other stories that I am currently writing but this has been in my head for a while and I really wanted to write it down and put out the first chapter to get peoples thoughts and impressions.
> 
> If this does gain a bit of traction, then I would like to say ahead of time that I will focus on this story later. Like some time in 2019 later. I will want to write out some of the story to get ahead and fill this story out before I come back to posting. I'm not too sure how long this will go also, so maybe that is why I will want some time to think about this story.
> 
> Also, sorry about such an information dump here and about the lack of actual crossover. I didn't mean for it to be so much like that, but my hands just wouldn't stop!


	2. Sanguinem Ligatum

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I did say that I would post the first two chapters to see what kind of reception this story would get. I was surprised to see so many people already interested in this that I thought I should post this chapter not even after 24 hours.
> 
> Let me know what you think. :)

**Posted October 17, 2018 … Revised January 29, 2019**

That fateful fourth year for Harry was a wild ride. The fourteen-year-old was thrust into an old, traditional competition that had been known to cause deaths to those who competed.

It was with an unfortunate twist of fate that the year in which the competition was to finally be brought back into the lime light, also brought along with it another death in the shape of one of its competitors. One that had been too young to receive such a fate and at the hands of Lord Voldemort himself.

Such news had been a shock for the magical community to hear. Whether one believed Harry Potter's words on the matter or not, it was disturbing to hear. To utter that maniacs name even after his defeat thirteen years ago was still very much a taboo to those who feared him and to even imagine the possibility of him returning was too much for some to handle.

Before the school year was to even end, already there were conversations going on behind Harry's back.

Mutterings that were giving into conspiracy with the average witch and wizard assuming that the great and heroic Harry Potter was now no more than a lair looking for more attention. Or even worse, telling the lie in hopes of instilling fear into those who had once fought such a monster back in the day.

It was a difficult thing for Harry to shoulder and listen to even though the worst of the words were not put into the newspaper or heard around school.

Either way, it was still very much fresh in the minds of everyone and for those who had been there to witness the two teenagers return with the prized cup turned portkey, they simply wanted the school year to be over and done with.

Once more, Harry was forced to depart from his beloved school at the end of June and return to his muggle aunt, uncle, and cousin. All of whom still despised his very presence.

With even more mental baggage weighing him down, the beginning weeks of that summer were dreadful for Harry.

He spent all waking hours taking care of the gardens out back and cleaning up the inside of the house. It was busy work and Harry never thought before today that the day would come when he would eagerly welcome such tasks. He knew it would be best to keep quiet to please his relatives and even he was glad to keep his silence since he seemed to be stuck in his own mind almost regularly.

It was Cedric he thought of most days as he scrubbed the toilets and tended to the vegetables. The older teen's death seemed to be a repeating image that tormented Harry's imagination day in and day out. It seemed almost never ending and even when he found a chance to break away from the reputation of such a cruel thought, Harry's young mind was still assaulted with all that he had experienced while beginning his years at Hogwarts.

From the horrors of his first year with the Mirror of Erised, the Devil's Snare, and having to defeat Quirrell with his bare hands.

From the struggles of his second year with a bewitched car and talking spiders, confronting the deadly basilisk, and destroying an old diary that held the image of a teenage Tom Riddle.

From the fears of his third year with the death-like dementors, the traitor turned godfather, and the hidden murderer escaping once more.

From the agony of his fourth year, having just passed and still very fresh in his mind.

It seemed as though Harry brought misfortune to himself and those around him. It seemed as though Harry was simply not meant to have a life that was easy or simple.

All he had ever known was an unhappy life as he grew up in an unloved house before he was shipped off to a magical school that seemed to constantly want him dead.

Dreary thoughts followed Harry around the house and gardens as days turned to weeks. His active mind never let up on thoughts no matter how important or insignificant they seemed to be. He never once took the time to relax given his list of chores or the homework he tried to complete at the end of each day.

Harry never took the time to think about anything else except his time spent at Hogwarts or what list of chores he had to complete. It may have a bit unhealthy to think in such a way but what else would the raven do.

There were a few occasions however, when his mood would seem to be lifted. And in those moments, Harry would remember what he had been able to get up to last summer.

The research he had uncovered about his missing family. The Uchiha's.

It was by no means a strong thought that would motivate young Harry to go looking further into the history of who his family may have been, but it was still a thought he used to help himself on particularly hard days.

During some nights when Harry was not too exhausted, he would take out the journal and read through it once more. The words were very familiar to him at this point and he had even taken to bookmarking the thing with his own page of notes from the time he had spent on the computer last summer.

Bits and pieces always seemed to stand out then fade into the background as he thought of something else within his father's words like puzzle pieces. It was an internal battle about what he should do with the information and Harry always hesitated in bringing it up to anyone.

It was not like he would ever actually be able to go looking on his own. Any and all information would at least be on the other side of the world even if he did not count the ocean itself. Asking Sirius to do something was out of the question because he was still in hiding and Harry did not want the responsibility of getting his godfather caught again if something were to happen.

He could have always said something to Ron and Hermione, but what could they do, all three of them were still children in eye of most and they had school to worry about.

Dumbledore was a third option that Harry was considered a few times, but something always held him back.

He was not sure if it was his own hesitance keeping him from seeking the headmaster out or something else. But one thing that Harry knew for sure about seeking out Dumbledore was that the man was an important and busy man.

Surely he had a lot on his plate as a headmaster of a school like Hogwarts and would not want to spend his time running around the world trying to help Harry find missing family. The entire thing was based upon one diary entry from his father fourteen years ago. That did not sound like a lot of information to go off for anyone.

Harry was probably the crazy one in this situation for even taking the entry as seriously as he was.

There was also the thought of contacting the Goblins like his father had written about, but it was the same self-conscious thing that Harry worried about.

Sure, they might be willing to help – for the right price – but what if they just played along for the coin and did not know what James had been talking about. That was another thing the young raven considered. What if the diary really was a lie.

What if there was no blood adoption. What if there was no hidden family tree. And what if there was no secret family at all.

Those were the worries that were far in between but still snuck upon Harry on more than one occasion. The logic may have seemed a bit flawed, but Harry could not help himself thinking that the Uchiha's were very much real so long as he did not confront the Goblins on the matter, and they said otherwise.

Harry's worry continued to haunt him for the rest of the summer, stopping himself from outright heading to Diagon Alley and Gringotts's Bank.

Finally, after what seemed like a dull existence for Harry, something did happen to him. It was by no means a good thing but was instead something that brought misfortune in the shape of two dementors.

They went after Harry and his elder cousin, Dudley.

It was a horrible feeling to both experience what those creatures did to him as well as simply having the knowledge that the things were now able to track Harry down to a normal, muggle place like Little Whinging.

Ms. Figg was there afterwards to somewhat help and encourage Harry to remain aware even after it appeared that the two horrible creatures had left once they had been confronted with Harry's Patronus.

The horrible gut feeling did not leave Harry and instead of it being focused on his possible missing family and the Goblins, it wound up being from the letter that he received from the Ministry of Magic. They thought he was some silly child who had used magic to show off instead of actually defending himself and Dudley from two Dementors.

It made him feel frustrated and angry.

Thankfully, it all eventually became a bit more sorted out when he was able to go in for his hearing about the magic that he had performed with help from Mr. Weasley.

Yet, it seemed never ending that things in Harry Potter's life were never simple for as soon as that debacle was over and done with, it was time to start school once more. Harry never got the chance to even consider going to Gringotts's one more time and instead, he boarded the train as he prepared for his fifth year of Hogwarts.

.

* * *

.

What a horrible fifth year it was for Harry.

He arrived home only a week ago and yet it seemed like the last ten months were as fresh in his mind as though it all happened only yesterday.

That toad of a professor had left a bad taste in his mouth that night of the feast way back on the first of September. She only became worse after that and never let up on her mission of tormenting Harry at every chance she got – verbally and physically.

He now bore such wounds from her and he felt as though they would never leave him for as long as he lived.

It was also a horrifying thing to remember that her presence was not event the worst thing that had happened to him.

Sirius Black, his beloved godfather, had entered and departed his life in such a brief and fleeting moment in time. It was not fair, and it seemed like there was a deep, dark hole in his body where his heart should have been.

He had not even had any time to mourn the man before he had tried to face off Lord Voldemort with the help of Dumbledore. Even now, after he had been shipped back to his muggle relatives, it felt as though this was not the place to be when Harry could finally mourn Sirius.

When he arrived back to the house, as usual, he had been handed a list of tasks for him to do and this one appeared to longer than usual.

As soon as Harry put away his school belongings in the cupboard under the stairs, Harry was sent up to his room for the rest of the day. All too happy with that demand, the young raven haired man raced up the stairs without making a sound. He fell onto the thin mattress and for the first time since he could remember, Harry cried.

It was an ugly cry with large, watery tears pouring out of his eyes, snot running down his face, and skin turned red from the fierce rubbing he had tried to do to keep the water works down to a minimum before he could close the bedroom door.

It was a chaotic few minutes as he soaked his pillow with his built-up emotions, but when it was finally over, Harry felt a bit better. Not a lot, but enough that he could sit up and take in a few deep breaths to help him further collect himself. He had finally let out all the bottled-up emotions that had been holding him down for a while now.

He took a deep breath to finally bring himself back from his bout of crying and even snuck into the bathroom to clean up his face.

Once he returned to his room, he fell back onto the bed and simply stared at the ceiling with hands rested on his stomach.

He had no one there to comfort him, but Harry also enjoyed the lonesome moment as well as it meant that he did not have to worry about what others might think of him for being such an emotional mess.

Sure, people like Hermione might say that crying and showing emotions is what it means to be human, but Harry was still slightly self-conscious about such things and revealing parts of himself to others.

Perhaps it was part of his upbringing.

Aunt Petunia certainly did not want to hear anything from Harry concerning negative emotions and even when he was in a good mood, she discouraged seeing a smile as it meant that Harry was clearly up to no good.

His tears had dried up, but he still felt a bit of some stray emotions swirling around inside of him. He spotted the list of chores that he had dropped and let flutter onto the bed when he had fallen onto it as well. Harry glared at the piece of paper and in a blind rage, he sat up, snatched it from atop the covers and tore it to shreds.

In the moment, it felt amazing to finally get back at the Dursley's, even if it was just a slip of paper, but as soon as the rage left his eyes, Harry was left sitting on his bed surrounded by bits of torn paper like confetti.

He felt shame and dread wash over him at the realization that he had not read a single thing on the piece of paper before he had destroyed it.

The teen had no way of knowing what his aunt and uncle wanted done first. Sure, he could guess the usual things that they demanded of him, but that did not tell him what to make for breakfast the next morning or whether he should weed the garden or cut the grass first.

Anger bubbled up again and he kicked the end of his bed, making his fowl mood even worse after he hurt his foot.

Knowing that he did not have to do anything for the rest of the day and not wanting to go speak with anyone, Harry slumped back onto his bed ready to fall asleep. It was only six o'clock in the evening and yet, sleep came quickly to Harry as he was mentally and physically fatigued.

The next morning, Harry was shouted at for quite a bit for not waking up early enough to cook their large breakfast. Letting it wash right over him, Harry accepted his fate and soon enough was able to get back to his usual tasks.

That first week seemed to breeze over then. Harry's focus did not stray from his chores even though he would have wanted nothing more than to go out either to read up more on his missing family or even something about the Order.

Finally, Sunday evening arrived and with it, Harry's work load would go back to normal. The weekends were always particularly difficult to handle since all three Dursley's were home and demanded more from him while also watching his every move.

Monday would bring back a little more alone time as Uncle Vernon would go back to work and Aunt Petunia would visit with neighbors. Dudley was always a wild card, but he had friends to go do things with, so he was usually not at the home for more than a few hours a day.

Finishing his work late that evening, Harry was all too happy to collapse on top of his bed covers, still in his dirty clothes. Aunt Petunia may have shrieked if she was Harry treat the bed coverings in such a way, but Harry was simply too exhausted.

.

* * *

.

Harry should have been woken up the next morning to his aunt shouting at his bedroom door.

Harry should have been woken up to the demand that he cook a regular breakfast for his regular relatives.

What the young wizard should not have woken up to, was to the sounds of shouting, breaking glass, and the distinct noise of spells being cast from downstairs.

Thanking his lucky stars that he had been able to cleverly hide his wand from his uncle when he came back from Hogwarts, Harry eagerly pulled the thin piece of wood from under his pillow, snagged his glasses from the bedside table, and snuck out of the bedroom.

He at least knew that if he kept quiet, he would have that advantage on his side should he need to intervene in whatever was going on. As he crept down the small hallway to the top of the stairs, Harry peeked over to see if he could spot anything form his vantage point.

No one showed themselves, but the sounds of activity grew louder as he carefully descended the steps.

By the time that the raven finally got to the bottom and hugged the front door, he easily looked down the hallway into the kitchen and saw that the small alcove where the dinning table usually sat was utterly destroyed. The wood was scattered all about the floor and the window and wall right behind it was practically disintegrated.

The view of the back garden and the small shed were now visible to Harry as he stood on the other side of the house.

The shock of seeing the regular setting gone stopped Harry in his tracks but when he heard another yell, all the adrenaline coursing through his veins finally put him into action. He dashed down the short hall, vaulted over the rubble of the dining room, and found himself outside in the back yard.

Harry was immediately greeted to the sight of a pale yellow spell heading towards him.

Throwing his entire body to the side, Harry dodged but he wound up winding himself a bit when he landed on his side and his arm dug into his ribs.

Gasping to take in a few breaths, he looked up to once again have a spell trying to hit him. Harry crawled away this time and was able to scramble up once he put his feet beneath himself. Taking in the scene once he gathered his wits just a bit, and no longer feeling any grogginess from just waking up, Harry spotted his cousin near the side gate, clutching his arm but looking worried as he towered over his slumped mother.

She looked dazed as she occasionally touched the side of her head.

Twisting to look at the other side of the yard, the raven saw that his uncle was trying to keep the wizards away from his small family.

He was surprisingly quick at dodging a few well aimed spells, but he wound up catching more than evading. Vernon quickly had a few scrapes and cuts decorating his arms and torso, but he did not give up in trying to keep the masked wizards away. He was eventually hit with a  _Stupefy_  and he collapsed right away.

Harry's arrival caught the three wizard's attention however and they happily ignored the downed Vernon in favor of trying to hit Harry.

Surprised that no back up had arrived yet, he thought of the few spells that Remus and the disguised Moody had taught him in their Defense courses. Harry tried to aim low level spells at his attackers as he easily guessed that these people were followers of Voldemort. But whether this meant that they wanted to kill or capture Harry, he did not know.

Their haunting masks made them even more intimidating and less human. It helped Harry a bit from disassociating them with real people however and so his aim seemed to improve when he thought about how they were simply things to hit. Like the dummies he and Dumbledore's Army had been practicing on in secret.

The teen also had no problems with firing spells in general seeing as he was acting in self-defense. If the Ministry tried to tell him this time that casting spells was not the right decision, Harry would probably hit them with a few jinxes himself.

Just when he thought that he was doing pretty well in fending off the attackers, one of the three in front of him somehow slipped past.

The young wizard thought that he would have to make a split decision on deflecting spells from both sides, but he was surprised to see the escaped wizard instead point their wand at Petunia and Dudley.

Thinking that they had been after his relatives all along, Harry ignored the other two wizards that had been trying to go for only him, and the teen raced forward, hoping to tackle the third before they could cast anything on his aunt and cousin.

The Dursley's were horrible people and Harry would love nothing more than when the day would come where he would never have to live with them. But that did not mean that he wished for harm to come to them.

" _Sanguinem Ligatum!"_ The spell was cast a spilt second before Harry was able to physically stop the caster and the two of them tumbled to the dirt. Once more slightly winded, Harry could only roll off the figure below him and take in a few gasping breaths as he heard a wail from his aunt.

Harry quickly turned to face her voice and stopped short at the sight of her. Only her.

Dudley was not there anymore, and Harry had no idea where he went.

There were no clues, thankfully, that said that Dudley was still here and was instead in little pieces. No, it was as though he had simply vanished into thin air.

Both he and Aunt Petunia were obviously shocked by what they had just witnessed but as Harry turned back to the caster, he could tell from the body language as well as the quiet mummer of, "Damn!" from the caster that they had not wanted that to happen either.

It seemed with one man down, another stepped forward and then took aim at Petunia. She gave a look of horror and fury over Harry's shoulder and before he got the chance to turn around and stop the man from casting the spell, they shouted, " _Sanguinem Ligatum,"_  as well and a shot of lavender purple flew over Harry's shoulder and struck his aunt.

Her face scrunched into an odd emotion, but Harry was at least sure that it was not pain, and simply disappeared as well.

Able to see her leave, he noticed that the lavender color of the spell had rapidly wrapped around her in the shape of an egg and began shifting in both color and density. It seemed like a cocoon the more it swirled around her and turned a darker shade before it solidified, and he could no longer see his aunt.

The cocoon then seemed to become a beam as it shot right into the sky before arcing off, heading to some unknown destination.

It was shocking to see two people just be taken away so quickly from a few uttered words. All harry could do was sit there in the dirt as he looked at the spot where Aunt Petunia had only been just a few seconds ago.

"What's wrong with the spell?" One of the men asked another.

Harry, still in a bit of shock, was only able to twist just slightly to see two of the three masked figures hunched together as they tried to understand their apparent failure with whatever spell they were trying to cast.

"I don't know," the other said, "guess that is was roll of the luck. Or lack of luck in this case. Just, just do it on Potter. He'll obviously have to go to one of them. We can just track him once he lands."

"Yeah, good idea."

Harry turned fully around then and with an enraged look on his face, he lifted his wand and cast a few harsher spells he knew and was able to stick a few with his speed and their surprise.

The two figures near one another stepped back in surprise, winding up standing next to the third man that had finally stood up from where he went down. All of them tried to dodge what Harry cast. The one in the middle was too slow and he got hit by a well-aimed  _Stupefy_ and went down like a log.

The one on the right reacted the fastest and sent a stinging hex at Harry's wand arm. It numbed the appendage and he unconsciously dropped his wand when he lost feeling in his fingers.

"Now it's your turn," the one on the left said as he raised his own wand. He could not see the persons face under the horrible mask, but Harry just knew that there was an ugly smirk directed at him. "Hope you like waiting, Potter. You'll need it."

Harry tried to move forward again to do something, scooping up his wand in his left hand. He clutched it tight hoping to keep it in his grasp even if they tried to disarm him again. A second stinging hex was sent to him and this time his leg was struck, and he sunk to the ground once it became numb as well.

He looked up in time to see the same masked man now right in front of him and Harry was left staring directly down the line of a wand.

Taking a deep breath, now knowing that he would have no way of escaping, Harry tried to glare as best he could. He wound up spitting at the mask for good measure too.

Ignoring the action, the figure simply muttered the now familiar words and Harry felt himself be pulled away from Number 4, Privet Drive, headed to somewhere else and not knowing what he might see when he arrived.

" _Sanguinem Ligatum!_ "

.

* * *

.

The only sensation that Harry felt from being encased in the egg-shaped spell was that he was surprisingly warm. It was not a suffocating type of heat but rather was a pleasant one. Like being wrapped in a comfortable blanket that one might use during a particularly cold day.

Harry had no idea where the spell was taking him, but the one thing he was able to recall was that the Death Eaters had not wanted this type of travel to happen to his aunt or cousin. But they expected it of Harry when they turned the spell on him. He was not sure if that meant that he would wind up with Aunt Petunia or Dudley when he landed.

Finally, it seemed that his air travel was done when he felt himself be slammed in one direction of the cocoon, like quickly hitting the brakes on a moving car. The bottom of the casing became bumpy like it was being dragged through dirt as it landed and begun slowing down.

All at once, the weird spell was over and it quickly dissolved, leaving behind just Harry.

He was left kneeling in the newly upturned dirt, having completely no idea where he was. Not as winded as he thought he might be but still a bit disoriented, Harry tried to process what had just happened to him in the last few minutes as he shifted to sit down in the ground.

Eagerly looking around him as he took in deep breaths, Harry hoped to spot something that would tell him where he was. He was completely lost and felt a type of urgency flowing through his veins that told him he needed to be moving and finding a way to get back to those followers to demand they tell Harry where he could find his aunt and cousin.

More and more thoughts began rushing through his mind as he tried to come to terms with what happened back at the house.

He was angry that no one had shown up in the time that it had taken Harry to wake up, hear what was happening, and for him to react like he had. He was worried what those men might do to his relatives. And he was mentally tired as he tried to let all these thoughts flash through his head one after the other.

Harry took in a few more breaths to both calm his racing heart and mind as he let numb limbs recover.

There was no sense in going over so many things at once. It would be better for the young teen to take it step by step.

First, he should figure out where he was. Then, if he was close to Surrey or even Little Winging, hopefully Harry could make it back on his own. If that could not work out for whatever reason, then perhaps someone would be able to track him down.

Afterwards, Harry could then prioritize what to do next by deciding if he would be able to go after his aunt and cousin or if he should let someone else take care of that as Harry could then go after the wizards who had shot out the spell in the first place.

Trying a few times to get his legs to cooperate with his brain once sensation came back, the young wizard was finally able to slowly shift to his knees then his feet as he took his time to stand up.

He started to look around himself to get a better idea of his surroundings. At one point while he was peeing through a few thick tree trunks, he thought he spotted a shift in some shadows to his right but when he turned to look, all he saw were leaves on a tree moving from a light breeze and the sound of a bird taking off.

Turning slowly in a circle to take more in, all Harry saw was never ending trees, telling him that he was in the middle of a forest in some part of the world.

He could have left England for all he knew.

Letting that thought finally settle into his mind, Harry then scrambled in his pockets looking for his wand. Not knowing where he currently was made it a high priority for him to be able to defend himself from whatever might be out there.

Frantically looking around the forest floor, he finally spotted his wand resting atop a few scattered leaves.

He gave a relieved sigh and clutched the piece of wood to his chest after picking it up. Once he was sure that it was safely in his possession once more, Harry let the wand loosely hang from his hand as he once more looked around himself, trying to make a decision about where he should head off first.

Biting his lip in debate, Harry finally chose a direction after considering which way he should go with a quick choosing game.

Just as he took his first few steps, out of nowhere, a hand and something metal flashed from his right peripheral and stopped just below his neck. He jerked backwards in surprise. Thankful at least that he did not collide with whatever was now at his neck, Harry instead felt himself bump into something that was directly behind him.

He tensed up in shock since he clearly knew that not even a second ago, there had been nothing so close behind him. The heat quickly clued him in that it was person behind him, if the object at his neck had not done it before.

It seemed that the person did not like being bumped into since after Harry did just that, the thing at his neck was brought closer. As it pressed further into his skin, Harry was able to make the easy guess that was a weapon as he felt his neck just below his Adam's apple being pushed upon.

"Dare ga anata o okutta no!"

He had absolutely no idea what had just been said but knowing a shouted demand when he heard one, Harry quickly raised his hands to his head in submission, thankful that he was able to hide his wand down the large sleeve of his shirt as he raised them.

When Harry did not speak within the first few seconds due to his surprise at the sudden change of events, the knife shifted around once more, this time drawing a bit of blood when Harry felt a brief sting followed by the sensation of a liquid trailing down.

"Whoa!" Harry said, "I don't know what you're saying! I'm harmless though, I promise! I have no idea where I am actually, so you've got the advantage here anyways. Well besides already having a knife to my throat!"

The knife did not move as the words were repeated, "Dare ga anata o okutta no."

This time, the phrase had not been spoken in a shout, telling Harry that the person had at least calmed down a bit. But he was not so sure if that was a good thing for the teen.

"Please, I don't know what you're saying!" Harry finally shouted, feeling the buildup emotions finally crashing down on him. A small choke of frustration escaped his mouth before he could stop it. He was surprised to feel the sharp metal leave after that. He opened his eyes in time to see it retract all the way, leaving from his right peripheral once more.

A hand grabbed his shoulder and twisted him around, letting Harry finally see who his attacker was.

It was a man, as Harry had thought based on the deep tone of voice.

He was about a head taller than Harry with hair as black as his own. It was not as wild however as it was smoothed down by a purple bandanna-like cloth that wrapped around the entire head. The hair also covered an eye but the visible one was almost as dark as his hair. He even wore a black, knee length cloak that only exposed his armed hand and his odd sandal covered feet.

The face was a bit familiar for some odd reason and Harry could easily tell that this figure had Asian ancestry.

The man's eye narrowed as though he thought there was something familiar about Harry as well.

He looked over Harry from head to foot more than once, never letting up on his grasp of Harry's shoulder. He spoke again then, angering Harry a bit as the man kept trying to converse when there was clearly a language barrier between the two.

"Anatahadare?"

At least it was a new phrase.

**End Chapter Two**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Dare ga anata o okutta no!" Who sent you!
> 
> "Anatahadare?" Who are you?
> 
> Another fair warning for this story is that some characters might be a bit 'out of character'. This is a fanfiction story after all and I hope you guys might like to see a different interpretation than from the real sources. Thanks for understanding!
> 
> Please keep in mind that I know 0% of the Japanese language and I took these from Google Translate. If there are errors, I am sorry.


	3. Broken Barriers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We all know that the Sharingan is a pretty impressive thing. So even if something like this seems like a small or large stretch for some of you folks, I like to imagine that one could be able to use it to learn a new language. At least to some degree. I also totally simplified the learning curve, but I hope that not too many of you will be so hung up on that. At least Harry is going have to learn Japanese the hard way.
> 
> Also, I want to answer a question that has popped up more than once. This is set after chapter 699 of Naruto and after The Last: Naruto the Movie.

**Posted October 20, 2018 … Revised February 1, 2019**

It was a different phrase, perhaps even a question based on the tone used, but Harry still had no idea what had just been said to him.

Instead of verbally responding, since he would just sound like broken record, Harry shook his head back and forth. He hoped that the action would be understood as a negative one to his lack of understanding.

The language barrier was already annoying after only a few words, and it seemed that the other male agreed with Harry for as soon after Harry shook his head, the other closed his eyes in thought. He then gave a sigh and completely removed his hand from Harry's shoulder and stepped away from teen, finally giving him back a bit of personal space.

That was when Harry finally noticed that what had previously been held to his neck was not necessarily a knife but was rather a short type of sword that ended in an odd diagonal tip. He gulped as he raised two fingers to his neck, feeling the light cut where the thing had just been placed.

Noticing the action, the stranger gave pursed lips in a small apology but did nothing else to give away his feelings about what he had done.

"Thanks, I guess," Harry muttered as he looked the other man over again.

There was an awkward silence between the two of them then. It was obviously difficult to have any form of conversation with someone who could not understand a single word you said.

Trying anyways, and hoping that at least one word might sound familiar, Harry spoke then. "So, what's your name? I'm Harry," he said as he raised an arm and tapped his chest, "Harry."

The man gave a hesitant nod as his eyes kept raking over Harry's face as though taking everything in. It was almost as though he was expecting to see something else.

"What's your name?" Harry pointed at his own chest again before pointing to the man, hoping for the other to take the hint.

Narrowed eyes met his green ones. It seemed like the man clearly realized what Harry had asked for but appeared hesitant to respond.

Not knowing what to do then, Harry stuttered a bit as he tried to voice his understanding. "Uh, you, you don't have to answer that! Sorry. I just uh, thought it would be an easy way to start this and- Oh my god!"

Harry backed up a few paces then as he raised his hands in defense at the sight before him.

He wanted to reach for his wand then, but not knowing for sure if the person in front of him was magical, even with what was currently going on, he tried his best to not grab ahold of it just then.

The man's one visible eye had been as dark as night not even a few seconds ago, but now it was bright red color. It was a bit unnerving to see an eye color so close to Voldemort's and almost instinctively, Harry had started to reach for his wand again.

He had to force himself to remember that this was not Voldemort in front of him. It was just some weird guy who could so some freaky stuff with his own eyes.

With that reminder being chanted in his head, Harry was finally able to calm down enough to look once more and noticed that the color change was not even the weirdest part of what was going on.

Three other dots, almost like commas, had appeared around his pupil before they had quickly shifted into an odd flower pattern with six petals. Harry was also a fair distance from the stranger and though he could not see the image on the iris completely, there also seemed to be another strange, three pronged shape centered around the original pupil.

It seemed the reaction that Harry given had even startled the other as he made a jerking motion with his shoulders and his eye grew a bit larger in surprise.

The man's posture had tensed when his eye had changed. It seemed to melt away however when he had seen Harry's specific reaction and the tension melted away to be replaced with confusion as he narrowed his one visible eye again and lifted his eyebrow.

"Hanashi o tsudzukeru," he then said to Harry once they both calmed down again.

When the green-eyed teen gave him an exasperated look, the taller male finally made a motion with his arm as he pointed to Harry's chest and then his own. He went back and forth a few more times, speaking the same words again.

Harry gave the man another up and down look with the side of his nose raised as though to say he had no idea if he should stay where he was or make a break for it and try to get as far away from this man as fast as possible.

Another soft sigh escaped through the man's nose as he closed his eye. When he opened it, Harry was a bit disappointed to see that the red design was still on his iris.

"Sasuke," the man finally said as he pointed to his own chest. He pointed at Harry and said, "Harii," then pointed back to himself as he said, "Sasuke," one more time.

Pleasant surprise grew upon Harry's face then as he let a smile form.

"Sasuke," Harry repeated.

With a tilt of his lips, the man nodded.

.

* * *

.

Even after finally introducing himself, it seemed that Sasuke did not intend to stop his eyes from looking the way they currently were. The look he gave Harry was as though he expected the young teen to be utterly pleased with learning the man's name as though it was supposed to mean something to him.

Again, Harry felt a bit irritated with this Sasuke person for assuming Harry could perfectly understand whatever language he was speaking, and that Harry would be able to easily figure out who he was supposed to be or what his name represented.

So instead, Harry simply stood there, staring at the stranger even after he said, "Hanashi o tsudzukeru," for the second time.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes when he realized that Harry was not doing what he aparently wanted.

Fed up, Harry practically shouted, "What? I don't know what you want from me so stop repeating those words like  _I'm_ the idiot here!"

A small, fleeting, grin grew on Sasuke's face at Harry's tone of voice. It made him even more angry though the teen knew it would be better if he tried to hold back from having a shouting match with someone who would not even know what he was saying.

"And stop with that look! It's annoying," Harry said as he tried to look away, tired of looking at that face and the creepy eye that was still just scrutinizing at his face. That thought made Harry pause. Now that he thought about it more, that weird looking eye had been attentively looking at him every time he moved about and spoke.

Or rather, he had been looking at his mouth as he talked.

With lifted eyebrows, Harry turned back to see the dark figure standing his ground in the middle of the forest, as still as a statue.

"Are you trying to learn from me?"

Sasuke obviously did not know what he was saying even if Harry's suspicions were correct. Harry had only said so many words so far and there was no basis for what his words meant or their context. Giving a smile, Harry then took a step forward to stand in front of Sasuke.

The taller male gave a mix between a questioning look and a glare as his shoulders tensed up again, even if just slightly this time.

Tapping his own chest, Harry said his own name before pointing to Sasuke and saying his name, setting up a bit of a reference for what he was about to do. The hesitant nod he received at repeating their names seemed to border on sarcasm and Harry tried hard to stop himself from rolling his eyes or getting annoyed with how he was being treated by the stranger.

Harry then tapped his clothes as he listed them to the red eye staring him down. "Shirt, trousers, shoes," he then moved to a few basic body parts, "Arm, hand, head, hair. Torso, leg, foot."

While it seemed like Sasuke had quickly absorbed what he was seeing and hearing, he still seemed to give of an air about him that spoke of how childish he thought Harry was being with trying to teach him.

Trying his best to ignore the silent mocking, Harry then pointed down, listing off a few terms for the dirt, twigs and leaves before he moved onto the trees, sky, clouds and sun.

It went on a for a good while as Harry tried to think of common objects and phrases to repeat to Sasuke.

He thought he was doing a poor job, but every time Harry tried to stop and let the other absorb what was just said, Sasuke would glare at Harry and repeat, "Hanashi o tsudzukeru."

The shadows of the trees surrounding them shifted as time went on and Harry was almost sure that they had been in the small forest clearing for at least an hour now.

Finally giving a huff after hearing Sasuke repeat himself with the same eight syllables that Harry could not understand, the teen tried to walk away to calm his head. Clearly not wanting to have Harry out of his sight, Sasuke followed behind like his shadow.

It was a bit intimidating to be watched over like that and so Harry looked around and soon spotted a rather large tree that had a few large roots protruding above ground.

Easily walking over and sitting down, Harry let a pleasant sigh escape as he finally rested his feet and took in the different kinds of plants that grew all around him. Ever since he landed and met Sasuke, Harry had practically been standing in the same place so moving around even for just a moment was a nice change.

When he looked up, Harry spotted Sasuke simply standing there, looking both bored and frustrated as he looked around as well.

Knowing the feeling since neither could communicate just yet, Harry patted the root in invitation. Getting the message but apparently not wanting to comply, Sasuke stepped a bit closer to lean against the tree's trunk.

Having none of that, Harry glared the best he could and patted the root once again. Surprisingly, Sasuke complied. Harry was not sure why but did not try to push for an answer. Instead, he noticed that Sasuke was a bit more graceful than when Harry had sat down but at least they were beginning to be somewhat civil with each other.

It was such a change for Harry as not even two hours ago, he had been in Surrey, worrying about whether he would be able to complete some dumb chores. Now, here he was, trying to teach someone English just so that they could hold a proper conversation and so that Harry could finally figure out where in the world he was. Then from there, he could figure out what steps he could take to find his way back to England.

A bit more time passed then, and Harry was just about done speaking for the rest of his life at this point. His mouth was dry, and he was feeling bit lightheaded the longer he tried to focus.

He was not so sure why until he felt the tightness of his stomach and the light nausea that came with the sensation.

Not realizing that he had moved, Harry brought his hand up to rest on his abdomen as he figured out that he had not eaten in almost forty-two hours. His last proper meal had been a leftover sandwich that Aunt Petunia had thrown out. She had packed one too many for Dudley and seeing as he was supposed to be on a diet, she got rid of it. Later that same day, he had munched on a few of the bad vegetables that Harry knew that his aunt would have not wanted brought into the house from the garden.

Ever since then, Harry had not consumed a single thing.

It seemed that Sasuke noticed the action as he looked over Harry in a new light before he stuffed his hand into his cloak and began rummaging around.

Not even a moment later, he pulled out some type of travel sized wrapper and handed it over without a word.

Appearing to agree on a small break, Harry reached out and accepted the wrapped bar to bring it closer for inspection. He noticed that Sasuke's eye had returned to its previous black color. Harry had been getting a bit used to the odd red and the flower shape but seeing that he could go back and forth between the two appearances was slightly comforting to the teen.

Hesitant but still very much curious, Harry looked back down at the food that he had been given. He opened it after a moment and shifted the bland looking bar back and forth as if he would be able to see what it was made from.

"Sore wa tabemonodesu. Taberu," the taller man finally said as he brought up two fingers to his lips. He looked amused by Harry's actions.

"Taberu," Harry mimicked as he finally nibbled at the end of the ration bar. "Food," he then said waved the bar back and forth as he tried to get used to the lack of taste.

Sasuke gave a nod of his own as he continued to watch Harry eat.

Harry was a bit weirded out by the action, but he was slowly becoming used to the oddities of the man he was currently in the company of.

Instead, he continued to consume the offered treat. Once he was almost done eating it, he remembered that he should have said something before accepting such a thing. He then turned to face Sasuke, "Thank you."

This time, Sasuke shifted his head a bit in confusion. It was a very subtle action, but Harry still caught it and it made him a bit pleased to see that even with the kind of personality Sasuke most likely had based upon their interactions so far, he was still able to show more emotions than aggression and assertiveness.

The look had clearly spoken of having no clue what the phrase was supposed to mean.

Harry pursed his lips then, not knowing what he could do to explain the meaning without showing it somehow. Knowing that it might backfire but not thinking of anything else, Harry tried to reach out for one of Sasuke's hands.

Sasuke had been leaning against his right arm as he sat in the shade of the tree and he tensed again when he saw that Harry was reaching out to his left side. He stood up then, surprising Harry with the speed at which he had done it.

"What. What's wrong? Did I do something?"

Ignoring the words, Sasuke was instead gazing right into Harry's eyes. He spotted the rapid shifting of Sasuke's iris as he clearly looked back and forth between both of Harry's. He was clearly trying to spot something in Harry, but he had no idea what it could be.

The older raven eventually grabbed his left shoulder over the cloak and slowly slid his hand down, showing the lack of shape underneath as the hand dipped under where an arm should had been and instead touched the side of his torso.

"Oh," Harry whispered, not knowing what else he could say so such a sight, "sorry."

Harry no longer felt hungry.

Sasuke apparently had no trouble in translating that as he looked down to his side where his missing hand might had rested once upon a time.

Letting a bit of the silence stretch between the two but not letting it be too long so that it could shift into awkwardness, Harry suddenly cupped the top of his left hand, letting his fingers brush along the light scaring he had there. It was not as bad as having an entire arm gone, but with how Harry had received his injury, he would gladly consider removing his hand if not his whole arm to get rid of the reminder of what Umbridge had done to him.

"Here," Harry finally mumbled as he shoved his hand close to Sasuke, making sure to keep his palm down so that the other could easily spot the lines on the back of his hand.

Sasuke stared at Harry, looking almost unsure of what he was supposed to do before he finally looked at the hand with a questioning gaze.

Harry noticed when he finally spotted and focused on the scaring as his narrowed, curious eye shifted to a more concentrated look. Hoping that Sasuke at least could understand that the scars were some type of lettering, Harry used his other hand to gesture to Sasuke's left side before he pointed back to his own hand.

Hoping the message was somewhat clear that Harry was sharing his own insecurities and wounds that he held.

Sasuke studied the marks for a few moments as he tilted his head a few times and even walked around a bit to see the words from a different perspective. He lifted his hand as though he wanted to reach out and touch the raised skin before he lowered it. Harry was not sure why Sasuke hesitated but if the other had simply asked, the teen thought to himself that he might have given permission.

Instead, Harry simply watched Sasuke as he looked over the words. He was not sure if the other male was trying to learn the words themselves or if he was simply taking in the scars in general as that of a wound. He finally stepped back and then gave Harry an understanding nod.

His face was as neutral as before, but Harry was almost certain that there was a new light shining in his eye that spoke of acknowledgement and taking comfort in being somewhat similar.

He then lifted his right hand close to Harry's in offering. Harry was confused at first before he realized that Sasuke was trying to comply with what Harry had tried to do just before their impromptu share-and-tell.

Happy with a change in topic, he grasped the taller man's wrist and placed the half-eaten bar in Sasuke's hand.

Amusingly, Harry spotted the slightest twitch on an eyebrow as the other looked down at what had just been placed in his palm. He looked up to glare at Harry and young wizard could not stop a small smile from forming at the look before Harry offered his own hand outward.

When Sasuke handed the food over again, Harry accepted with the appropriate, "Thank you."

.

* * *

.

Another hour or two passed by until finally, night crept upon them.

The air became a bit chillier and Harry felt himself trying to warm himself with his hands as he rubbed his arms.

He was quite surprised to see how quick of a learner Sasuke was as for the last half hour, he had finally began speaking and trying to converse with Harry in English. There were still a fair amount of errors and words that took a minute to translate, but they were easily looked over as with each word Sasuke spoke, there was also a lack mistakes and an accent. It was very impressive.

"So, can you tell me where I am?"

"This place called 'Shinrin o samayō'. I think that means 'Walk Trees' to you."

"Walk Trees? Do you mean forest? That would be what we'd call a lot of trees in one place like this."

"Forest," Sasuke said as he tried the new word. "Yes, this is Walk Forest."

Harry felt a bubble of humor leave him in a short laugh. "That still doesn't make much sense, but I guess it'll be the best we can do for now. And besides, that's not what I meant. I meant that I wanted to know what country we're in. I just don't know where I landed. You know, when I got here from that sp- I mean from that weird bubble thing I was in."

"Bubble?" Sasuke asked, not having learned the word yet, before he shook his head to clear his thoughts. "You are in Kaminari no Kuni."

"Huh?" Harry said, again, having no idea where or what those words meant.

It took another few moments to figure out the words Sasuke said and how to translate them seeing as there was no storm raging above them, but when Sasuke spotted Harry's scar between the wisps of his bangs, Sasuke pointed to it. From then on, it was not too hard to realize that the two of them were in some place called "The Land of Lightning."

"But where is that in the world," Harry had said, still trying to understand where he was. He could take an easy guess to assume he was somewhere in Asia but that was still such a large continent. There were plenty of countries to guess from and he had no idea where The Land of Lightning would fit in.

There was then a bit of back and forth as Sasuke tried to explain the layout of the continent, but nothing made sense to Harry.

A thought kept trying to come forth from the back of Harry's mind every time he let his mind wander in his frustration but every time, he tried to focus on it any more than just a passing thought, it seemed to slip by.

The entire conversation soon became too much for Harry was he was both irritated with himself and his current circumstances. He had been attacked in the muggle world not even four or five hours ago, he was hit with a spell with no clue as to what it did, and now he was both tired and hungry.

It was practically pitch dark now with chirping crickets and the occasional hooting owl. All Harry wanted to do was sleep on what information he currently knew and think up a plan in the morning.

Harry rubbed at his arms again, trying to gain some body heat through the friction as he sat lost in thought.

A cloth landed on his shoulders then.

Surprised, he looked up to see Sasuke standing above him without his cloak on, exposing a dark gray, long sleeved shirt that only filled out on one side.

Looking away, still not quite used to seeing only one arm, the teen gave a small thanks as he wrapped the cloak tighter around his thin frame.

"You're welcome."

Harry smiled then, happy with the progress and that he would now be able to speak with someone in this strange land.

"Do you know if there is a city or town around here? I don't know where I should go to find a place to sleep for the night."

"There is nothing here. And I do not think you have money."

Harry looked down to his feet as he pulled the cloak closer to himself, "Oh. Yeah, you got me there."

Now what was he supposed to do? Sleep out in the middle of a forest? It would have to do, he supposed, seeing no other option as he did not want to have to walk so far while he was as tired as he was. Sasuke moved to step even closer to Harry and the teen looked up to see an outstretched hand in front of his face.

"Come."

"What are you doing?"

"Taking you with me."

Heart racing a bit at those words, Harry became a bit warry of the other man. Sure, they had been civil with each other for the last few hours, but that did not stop Harry from remembering the beginning of their meeting, sword and all.

"And where would that be?"

The worry and hesitance must have been obvious on his face since Sasuke gave a tilt of an eyebrow, showing how dumb he thought the question was. "I have a base. You can stay with me because you have no place to go."

Thinking it over, Harry sat there for a little while longer, considering pros and cons of doing such a thing.

"I would have already hurt or killed you if I wanted to." Sasuke then said, interrupting Harry's internal battle. It was spoken in the most calming way as though it was no big deal so even think about doing such a thing. It weirded Harry out but what other options did he really have if he were to deny Sasuke's offer.

Harry looked up and gave a weak glare at the older man. Sure, he had a point, but it was still a bit crazy to hear someone say such a thing so casually.

"Well why don't you think it could be the other way? What if I'm some crazy person who wants to hurt you?"

A bit of emotion bloomed across Sasuke's face as he showed off his amusement at Harry's words. "No. You cannot hurt me. Can tell that you are lost, and I help. Accept because there is no one else around here."

That may have been true, but it was also annoying to hear him guess correctly.

As Harry gave a brief glower at hearing what he said, he began to wonder just who this Sasuke person was. What did he even do for a living? He was clearly armed and knew how to fight. Was he an assassin or something? Had he killed people before? Was he a criminal?

The more he thought about it, the more worried he became, and Harry wanted to stay a bit farther away from the man. Sasuke was still technically a stranger and an armed one at that. But he was also sort of considerate. Or at least he knew how to appear polite.

And he seemed to truly be interested in learning English from Harry. Whether it was for his own gain or to help Harry later, that was still up for debate.

But Harry knew one thing then. Sure, there were plenty of reasons why he should turn the offer down but the one thought that kept coming forth in Harry's mind was that he was simply exhausted, and he just wanted to lay down and sleep somewhere warm.

It was probably the worst reasoning that he could have come up with, but his mind was a mess with so many thoughts and so, Harry finally gave a sigh of acceptance and grabbed the offered hand.

.

* * *

.

The two of them traveled for what Harry thought only felt like a few minutes before they reached another small clearing where a modest camp setup was.

A pile of rocks was place in a circle and in the center was some charcoal, clearly having been wood only a while ago and been burnt for a fire. Not too far away from that was an old, overturned log that was clearly being used for seating.

Finally, off to the side was a patch of exposed dirt that had been swept of small rocks and the regular forest floor debris so that some type of bedding would have been laid out. There was no type of sleeping arrangements displayed however, and Harry had no idea where it might have been placed when not in use.

After taking in the scene, Harry turned around and was surprised to see that Sasuke had disappeared while he had been looking around. Turning back to the setup as though it would hold the answer, he was shocked to see that Sasuke was already standing by the cleared patch of dirt and was laying out what looked like a simple bedroll. Once done, he pointed to it and said that it would be where Harry would sleep.

The teen eagerly denied the request arguing that since it belonged to Sasuke, he should be the one to use it.

Sasuke then tilted the corner of his mouth as though he was amused by something that Harry did not know.

"No. You sleep here, and I be in the tree," Sasuke said as he pointed to a large branch that was directly on the other side of the clearing. It gave the perfect view of the entire clearing while the height would let Sasuke see farther into the dense trees.

"Wha-why?" Harry asked, not knowing why this man was being so frustrating about such a simple thing as sleeping on the ground like a normal person.

"I am keeping watch. Enemies everywhere and I always prepared."

That ended the short conversation since Harry did not know what he could say then for his own defense.

Instead, he just accepted the situation while he tried to think fast about what enemies Sasuke had been talking about. Maybe their translations were a bit off and the other was simply speaking about wildlife creatures that might sneak up. Like a bear or something.

Harry saw no reason to argue with someone who had already decided to drop the topic and he watched Sasuke stalk out of the clearing after he said that he was going to gather new fire wood.

It did not take him too long, but it did leave Harry with a few moments to himself where he was finally able to take in a deep breath and have a moment of peace without any interruptions.

Harry also tried to unwind and stop the mild aching he felt as he tried to rub his chest to ease his strained muscles. They hurt a bit and while Harry could not pinpoint what exactly was making him feel that way, he assumed it was either from when he fell and got winded back at the house or when he landed here after the spell that had been cast upon him.

When Sasuke finally came back, the elder raven held a few rabbits clenched in hand while twigs and branches were tucked underneath his arm.

The two of them wound up eating them for dinner and it was a crazy experience to see Sasuke easily clean the animals and set them up to cook. Harry was not afraid to admit that he had felt a bit nauseous as he watched the entire thing. It was strange for Harry since he had never eaten such an animal before but after the first hesitant bite, his stomach argued that it was the greatest thing and so the meal was gone in a heartbeat.

Afterwards, the exhaustion finally fell upon Harry full force and he practically dumped his body onto the bedroll after he got a final verbal nudging from Sasuke.

Tucked inside, Harry let himself take one last glance around the camp and spotted Sasuke already sitting upon the tree branch that he said he would stay on for the night. The taller raven was looking at the dying fire and occasionally looked around through the trees that circled where they were.

The two had only known each other for perhaps three or four hours.

There were plenty of people back home that would say this was a horrible idea – Harry could practically hear Hermione screaming at him for being reckless – but he could not help himself. He was tired and just wanted to sleep.

He finally let his eyes close after catching Sasuke's eye one last time and an odd thought come forward then, seeing as Harry was about to fall asleep in front of a stranger but he could not help it.

He truly felt safe being watched over by the other raven for whatever reason.

**End Chapter Three**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Hanashi o tsudzukeru." Keep talking.
> 
> "Sore wa tabemonodesu." It is food.
> 
> "Taberu." Eat.
> 
> Well, here was chapter three! Hope you liked it, or at least some part of it. I know that a lot of people have general questions but there are parts of this where you are supposed to be in the dark right now. Or at least just won't know certain information for a while. ;)
> 
> This story is sort of a slow burn as well so be prepared for things to take their time to develop. Thank you for checking this out and I can only hope that when I come back to this story later on, you will be eager to follow where this might go!
> 
> Revised Notes:
> 
> So, a big thing I did to change this specific chapter up was to make it look like Sasuke is still struggling a bit with learning English. I mean, it is a hard language to learn if you are not a native speaker. So many weird rules. Basically, I just wanted to say here that it was a bit hard to change this to what it is now without making him seem like a complete idiot. I wanted to do this also because I felt like I just had him learning the language way too quick. I mean, I already crossed that boundary with having him become this good already in only a few hours but still…
> 
> So now, he is still a bit rough with some proper grammar and use of things like when to use "I" or "I am" or I'm" or "me". That kind of thing. Over time, I plan to have him read like a natural though.
> 
> I also just wanted to put this note to let everyone know that I do in fact know that words of sentences do not make sense because I wrote them that way on purpose. :P


	4. Distance Traveled

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Look, a spooky Halloween update! Its no trick, I assure you. Just a fun little treat in the middle of the week.
> 
> Enjoy!

**Posted October 21, 2018 … Revised February 2, 2019**

Harry jolted awake and was confronted with a jumbled mess of thoughts and ideas in his head.

Too many things would spring forth before falling to the back of his mind just to let the next thought take over. It took a few moments to sort through everything and Harry had not even gotten the chance to open his eyes.

Once he did, the first thing that Harry realized was what had caused to wake up in the first place.

There was an odd sensation deep in his chest that the teen could not properly describe. It was like a type of pressure that was pushing right down the center of his sternum. The muscles on his back in the same spot were also tensed up. The longer he laid there, thinking about the feeling, Harry noticed how it was beginning to become a bit painful as though he was being constantly pinched from the inside.

It was confusing and uncomfortable, but it was bearable for now.

Letting the ache fall to the back of his mind, Harry finally opened his eyes as he sat up. He gave a lazy stretch of his arms and back as he looked around to see his surroundings bathed in a beautiful, yellow morning light.

The sight of dense the trees, bushes, and wild life did not seem so intimidating now that it was not all covered in the darkness of night. Gazing upon all of it finally clued Harry in and reminded him of just where he was and how he got to be here.

After a deep yawn and ruffling his hair to wake up a bit, Harry then gave a weary sigh as he tried to mentally prepare himself for the day. There was so much that needed to get done and he had no idea where to even start.

The best bet, he supposed, would be to finally reach the nearest town. There were too many reasons why it would be a good idea to do that as fast as possible.

Hopefully Sasuke would be able to help guide him there. Or at least point him in a specific direction if he decided to not travel with Harry. The thought of the other male finally had Harry scrambling for his glasses near his pillow and putting them on before he looked around the small area, trying to spot him.

Sasuke was nowhere in sight and suddenly, Harry felt worried.

He was not sure if the feeling came from being alone or if he was concerned for the others safety.

Either way, Harry finally scrambled to stand up from the warm bedroll. He walked around the small clearing to see if there was a clue as to where Sasuke might have gone while he had been sleeping.

Finding no clue as to where he might have gone, Harry kicked a small rock in irritation as he turned to walked back to the campfire.

He was just about to sit upon the log when the strange sensation from before came back. It bloomed outward from the center of Harry's chest and became worse as it quickly spread throughout the rest of his torso from neck and belly.

It was such a startling feeling that Harry felt himself physically jerk at the sensation and he stumbled to a knee as he clutched the front of his over sized shirt. A gasp escaped from his mouth as well and Harry felt himself struggle to take in a breath to replace what he had just exhaled. His other knee came down then to meet the first and Harry bent over, trying to ease the pain as he let his forehead touch the dirt.

It was not that he could not take in any air – his throat felt fine – but it was the intense pain from his chest that had Harry subconsciously holding his breath as he tried to wait out the feeling. He rocked his head from side to side, digging into the ground as he let his eyes fall shut and teeth clench tight.

Not seeming to let up any time soon, all Harry was able to do to alleviate the pain somewhat was to finally fall onto his side and curl up as he let his back touch the bark of the log.

The pain was not so much like being scrapped or even being stabbed but was more like a burning feeling that lay just underneath his skin as though it was surrounding his heart. The organ seemed to be pumping even faster throughout it all as Harry continued to pant and suffer alone in the middle of the forest.

He had no idea where Sasuke had run off to, but the young raven almost felt like crying now.

Lost and alone in some place that he had never been to, Harry had no one to help him as he felt like he was about to die.

Suddenly, the pain lessened.

It was not by a whole lot, but it was enough to be noticed right away. Harry finally uncurled from his fetal position in the dirt and was able to sit up, leaning back against the log and letting his head fall back to rest on it as well.

He continued to pant as he tried to catch his breath and come to terms with what he just went through. Harry stared at nothing above him as he moved a hand up to touch his chest where the pain had been the greatest and left it there as he tried to calm down.

When it became a little bit more bearable but still uncomfortable, Harry gave one last deep sigh.

Waiting it out for a few more moments to be sure that it would not rush back, Harry took slower calming breaths as he looked around him at all the greenery. Once he felt that enough time had passed, and the pain would not return, Harry finally moved away from the support of the log to sit upright on his own.

He looked down at his hands to see that they were shaking a bit from the left over affects of whatever had just happened.

Harry was not sure if it was the adrenaline or something else. Either way, he frowned at the appendages as though he could blame them for what had just happened to him.

Leaves suddenly rusted nearby, jostling Harry out of his thoughts and forcing him to quickly stand and face the noise. A brief flash of lightheadedness passed through him from the fast movement, but it faded soon enough, letting Harry prepare for whatever danger might be near him.

Harry went to grab his wand from his back pocket before he could, the figure of Sasuke finally made his way through the foliage. He appeared to be lost in thought as he carried another few rabbits in hand.

When he finally spotted Harry standing there, swaying a bit, he quickly moved forward and grabbed ahold of Harry's upper arm, dropping the rabbits in the process.

About to tell him off for invading personal space, Harry stopped himself when he realized that he was tilting a bit and he was suddenly very thankful for the support as Sasuke then slowly lowered Harry onto the log. Sasuke followed the younger raven down and crouched just in front of the log so that they were at a similar eye level.

"What is wrong."

Harry tried his best to explain what he had just went through, seeing no reason to lie to the other male. It did not seem like something that he should keep to himself.

It was also something that should be shared with the other male in case it happened again and Sasuke was there to see if happen.

The more he talked about it however, Harry realized that he no longer felt any of the pain. It all had completely vanished and so had the dull ache that had felt constant even when there had been no searing pain. It was like the past few minutes since he woke up had not been complete hell for Harry.

Saying as much to Sasuke, the older raven gave a narrow eyed look as though he did not believe the other. Harry tried to argue that he was alright now and when he was able to stand on his own and walk around a bit, showing no signs of what he had just went through, Sasuke finally let it go.

Instead, he then gestured to the few rabbits that he caught, and they once again had them for breakfast. Not as starving as he had been the night before, Harry found himself not eating as much of the meat.

Sasuke noticed the lack of eating and gave a tilted eyebrow in question.

"I'm just not that hungry."

"You still hurt?"

"I thought I said that I'm not hurting anymore."

"You are not eating."

Harry pursed his lips in response and looked down as he clenched his hands atop his knees. Sasuke was wrong in thinking that Harry's lack of hunger was a physical after affect, but the episode still worried Harry. He had never felt anything like that before and as he sat there in front of the burning fire that had cooked their meal, his thoughts had him recalling the spell that had sent him here and to Sasuke in the first place.

It was the only thing that Harry could think of that was recent and could be connected to the pain he had felt.

Having no idea what spell those Death Eater's had uttered, Harry had no chance of figuring out what had been cast on him and what it was supposed to do.

Now that he thought about it, Harry realized that the spell had sent his aunt and cousin away and the three attackers had been surprised by that. They had not been confused, but more as though such a thing had been a burden that could have been avoided.

Those thoughts did nothing to help Harry understand his situation any better, but at least it was a start.

Being sent away like what had happened to him was a possibility of the spell. But what about when the victim landed. What then?

Sasuke suddenly stood up from his seat on the log next to Harry.

The teen jerked in surprise at the motion and let his stick of rabbit fall into the dirt as he looked up to the other raven. Sasuke was looking straight ahead, through the dense trees as he gripped his cloak, pulling it closer to himself.

"What, what's going on? What are you doing?" Harry asked as he tried to look through the trees where the other was staring.

"Shh. Wait here."

"What is going on." Harry demanded, wanting to know what caused the other to look alert and serious so quickly.

"Someone is out there. My trap went off." Sasuke then turned to Harry, showing off his red eye once again, "I will check and you stay."

"Hey, I could help! You don't know what I can do."

Instead of verbally answering, Sasuke instead gave Harry a look over as he clearly said with his face that he saw no weapon on Harry and thus assumed that he could not, in fact, help. Harry's cheeks flushed a bit at that, knowing that he could not exactly say that he had a magic wand to help him and instead gave a huff as he folded his arms across his chest.

Then again, he could use his magic if he wanted. It's not like Sasuke is not familiar with the odd seeing as his eyes change to look like something that Harry had never seen in his life. He bit his lip in consideration but before he could even voice the option, he turned back to see Sasuke give a slight smirk at the sight of Harry accepting the situation and then dashed off into the forest.

Harry was surprised at the speed at which the other left the small clearing and he then he witnessed Sasuke  _leap_ from the ground onto a tree branch that had to at least be three times taller than the other male.

When Sasuke was no longer in sight, Harry was left sitting on the log, staring at the now dying fire pit.

There was definitely something strange about Sasuke and what he could do. Maybe it was magic in some way that was not familiar to Europe or at least Hogwarts. Maybe he should confront the other about it. Perhaps trying to be subtle would be the best approach at least to see if there is some kind of magical connection.

The stick of rabbit had been on the ground was now forgotten as the teen became lost in his thoughts as he waited for the other to return. Sasuke had not said when he would come back, and Harry had no idea what he should do in the meantime.

Deciding to take the moment to come up with a plan, Harry began forming a loose idea on what he should try to get done sometime soon.

He should ask Sasuke for directions to the nearest town or city. From there, hopefully he would be able to determine where he was and could try to find directions to the nearest magical community. It seemed like it would be his best bet to get back to England. Preferring not to but deciding to use it to his advantage if need be, Harry could try pulling the "Harry Potter" card and getting help from people who know him as the boy who lived.

Hopefully whoever was able to help him would not know too much about recent news with him saying that Voldemort had returned. Too many people still feared that monster and thought it best to believe he was and would always be dead.

Or better yet, perhaps Harry could find someone who did in fact believe Harry when he had said that Voldemort had returned. Then perhaps they would be even more willing to help Harry find his way back to England so that he could do something get rid of him once more.

Just when the raven haired teen was beginning to feel a bit optimistic, holding out hope for his luck turning for the better, the ache in his chest and back returned. Soon afterwards, it bled to irritation and then finally burning pain.

Building up quicker than previously, Harry was left gasping and choking as he clutched his chest once more. He slid off the log and wound up leaning against it as he tried to quell the agony of feeling his upper body twist and tense up from the abnormal sensations.

Hoping to distract himself a bit, Harry tried looking up at the canopy of leaves above.

Seeing the blue sky peeking out from between the green, swaying leaves, as well as the occasional bird, the young teen was left panting and sweating as the pain kept growing worse and worse. Tunnel vision even appeared more than once as he felt his eyes rapidly flutter and try to focus his sight.

Harry had no clue as to what was causing the torture he was feeling, and he did not like it one bit.

He truly felt like he was dying, the pain was too much. And even if he could not die from whatever he was undergoing, it was the second worse feeling he had ever experienced, right after being hit by the Cruciatus Curse from Voldemort himself.

Eyes squeezed shut at a particularly harsh wave of pain flared across his entire body and a few tears finally escaped from his eyes and slid down the sides of his eyes to his temples and eventually hiding away in his hair.

The young wizard had no idea what was happening to him and it was truly worrisome.

Finally, the agony seemed to disappear once more. It was far too slow in Harry's opinion as it seemed to decline at an unhurried pace as opposed to how sudden it had crashed upon Harry in the first place.

Either way, it was almost completely gone by the time Sasuke's form was recognizable from a few meters away. His presence was a bit hidden from the shade that the bunches of trees provided, but Harry could still spot the neutral look on his face. He lips seemed even more pursed than usual and once he finally got closer, Harry was greeted to Sasuke's normal eye narrowed almost to a slit as he looked over Harry from where he was a few paces away.

"Come," he finally said in a finality type of tone as he moved forward towards Harry, "we are leaving now." Harry allowed a moment of shock to fill his head as he realized that Sasuke did not sound out of breath even though he had clearly been running for a good few minutes both to and back from wherever he had gone.

"And where is that?" Harry asked as he lightly panted a bit as he tried to gather back his strength from what he had just gone through.

"To the nearest village. You are seeing a healer."

"What? Why? I'm perfectly fine," Harry said through the last few gasps of breath as he tried to regain his sight and wobbly legs.

"Do not lie. I can see you are in pain. So, we are seeing healer and other person for your, um, you say problem."

"Problem?"

"To go home. I take you to the village and you find a way back. But after healer."

"Oh. Yeah, I guess you're right," Harry said as he looked down at his feet and bit his lip. Of course, that was what he wanted but for some reason, Harry did not want to leave the other man just yet. Harry was definitely crazy for even letting the thought stay in his head, but he could not help it.

There were plenty of reasons why he should not stay with a man like Sasuke and yet, something in the back of his mind kept telling him to stay close. Just for a little bit longer at least.

Such a thought was hard to ignore, but Harry was good at that kind of thing. Knowing that the other man was correct, Harry then gave a sigh of acceptance and he nodded his head.

It was time that Harry start trying to find a way back home.

But like Sasuke said, healer first.

.

* * *

.

Not long after Sasuke's announcement and Harry's reluctant agreement, the two quickly took care of the small camp sight.

Packing the bedroll, dousing the fire and scattering the rocks, and finally sweeping a bit of forest debris back to cover where the bed had previously been, the two made the clearing look as though two people had not been eating rabbit even a few moments ago.

Sasuke was adamant about such a thing and though Harry had been confused and tried to ask for a reasoning, Sasuke just said that it was a common thing to do for those who lived around here.

Harry was not sure if he believed those words, but he let it slide knowing that they both had their own secrets and odd reasons for the things they did.

Once the job was taken care of, the two were easily able to leave and head off seeing as they had very little supplies to carry. Harry himself simply had the clothes on his back, his glasses, and his precious wand. Sasuke appeared to have nothing as well but seeing as he was able to pack up an entire bedroll and store it somewhere within his cloak, Harry assumed that he had quite a bit of equipment.

Harry even tried to offer to carry some of the weight once that thought had sprung forth but Sasuke quite eagerly said that he did not need nor want any help with what he had.

Backing off a bit after such a brief and stinging conversation, the two of them fell into silence not too long into their trek.

It was a bit of an uncomfortable time as the silence stretched between them but after a while, Harry began to appreciate it. It was nice to not have to worry about keeping conversation going as well as not having to constantly lie to hide magic.

With the opportunity available to him now, Harry took the time to sink into his thoughts once more.

The most important thing that he felt needed to be addressed so far was to find another witch or wizard. Their population was significantly smaller than the muggle population, but Harry knew that he needed to hold out hope that there would be at least one magical person once they reached whatever town they were heading for.

Even if it would turn out to not be the case, Harry was still eager to reach their destination to get a better idea of where he exactly where he was relative to England. Sasuke had not been very helpful in that regard even though Harry knew he had tried his best to explain the general layout of where they were.

Another idea that kept creeping forth was just how and  _why_ he had wound up there in the middle of the woods, so close to Sasuke. There was the chance of it being a coincidence, but in Harry's personal experience, that word held no meaning.

If the older man had not been there, then Harry would have truly been lost and alone. He would have had no help at all and might have come across the 'enemy' that Sasuke had went out to confront earlier. It could have definitely turned out to be a different situation, and possibly a more dangerous one at that.

The reminder of the something or someone that had triggered one of Sasuke's traps had him pausing in his walking.

Sasuke had gone out and had come back not even a few minutes later, looking the same and not even out of breath. He never once spoke about what he had done and if there had been any danger or problem.

Noticing that Harry was no longer following behind him, Sasuke finally stopped as well to turn to face the younger raven.

Finally breaking the silence once he noticed that Sasuke certainly would not be, Harry spoke first. It was a bit startling to hear his own voice after they had been walking in silence for a while now but he wanted to say what was on his mind.

"What did you do back there?"

"Where?"

"Back in the clearing. You somehow knew people were around even though I didn't see or hear anything. You said a trap of yours went off and you left to check it out."

"Yes, I did."

"Well it doesn't make sense to me," Harry said in a bit of a forceful tone as he stubbornly crossed his arms. "You supposedly realize this when I didn't. You go off  _jumping_ onto a freaking tree that was just way too high, and then you come back not even five minutes later looking like you just took a stroll through a garden! What happened out there?"

"It does not matter. Took care of it."

"Yes, it does matter! I know we're still sort of strangers since it hasn't even been twenty-four hours since we met, but I'm still here. If my safety was at risk at some point, I would like to know. What if our places had been the other way around?"

"It is not the other way around."

"I know that! But just think about what if. Please."

Silence fell over them again. Harry was still feeling a bit of his anger at being kept in the dark but as a few moments went by, he felt himself cool down. He stared Sasuke in the eye the whole time and even though he always appeared to look indifferent to anything that was said, the other raven seemed to look a bit irritated as well.

"If you must know," Sasuke finally said in a clipped tone, "I checked a trap and saw a wild boar caught. I was waiting for other thing so I let it go."

"Will you say what you were expecting then?"

"Enemies."

"Yeah, about that. I think there's a translation error. I think you mean something like a dangerous animal or creature. When you say enemy like that, I assume you mean a human. You know, like a person that is trying to catch you or even kill you."

"Yes."

"Wait, what?"

"Yes, person enemy. There is no 'translation error'. I making sure that there are no people following us."

"But, but who would be after me? I just got here. Are they're going after  _you_? But what have you done?"

Sasuke finally glared outright at those words. It was quite intimidating though Harry felt as though Snape, and as much as he would hate to say it, Umbridge, held a stronger gaze whenever they gave such a look. Instead, Harry raised his arms in a casual surrender and even physically took a step back to show that he was not trying to pry too much.

Sasuke still seemed displeased with where the conversation had gone as he swiftly turned back around and began walking once more. He did not appear to hold back this time and as he began to briskly walk through the dense forest, Harry found himself jogging to keep up with Sasuke's large strides.

"Hey, wait up! Okay, I'm sorry. Jeeze, if you're angry at something I said, you can just say something, ya know. You don't have to be all moody. And use words once in a while for goodness sakes!"

Sasuke did not reply and simply continued to walk farther and farther into the wilderness.

Even with the other male trying to get away from him, Harry could reluctantly admit that it was impressive to see Sasuke move so easily across the uneven terrain. Harry had been struggling with almost every step he took to keep up. The two constantly moved up and down the shallow hills and valleys of the forest floor and Harry was left panting while Sasuke continued to step without a sound.

Harry found himself dodging the occasional low hanging branches in front of him, and even then, he would not spot some in time and would wind up getting quite the sting on his forehead. He would have to sidestep the large rocks and small bushes that were scattered all around and he would even have to waste a bit of time walking around large bushes if he could not simply walk over them.

Small tree saplings seemed to grow everywhere, and the teen was surprised to realize that those were the worst things because they were small enough to seem insignificant but if he tripped over one, his shins would tingle from the tough bark or the sharp little branches.

Having never had to travel on foot like this, let alone while in the middle of a forest like he currently was, Harry was a bit miserable already.

There was no way that he could have foreseen this in anyway. Yet, here he was now, having to walk like this in the least comforting clothes and shoes, in the company of someone who was practically a mute, and still having no clue as to where he was in the entire world.

Fate just loved to mess with Harry's life it would seem.

**End Chapter Four**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one was a bit shorter, but I felt that this was a good place to stop.
> 
> Let me know what you think and if you have questions let me know! But also know that I might not be able to answer some of them for spoiler reasons.


End file.
